Runs off isolated power supplies - solves the many neglected noise issues in audio

Uses DAC with lowest out of band noise

Low latency digital filter brings more realism to the sound

Utilises asynchronous USB & low jitter independent audio clocks

Reclocks signal at the optimal point in the signal path for best signal conditioning

Its small size, fitting in the hand, belies the exceptionally high end sound this converter delivers. On the previous devices(JKSPDIF & JKDAC32), many users commented on the fact that such a small device could deliver such an expansive and captivating sound. The new Ciúnas devices delivers even more subtle detail & greater realism.

RF Attenuators have been known about & used for many years in both audio & cable/satellite TV reception.

These particular attenuators are in-line adaptors that can be connected at the start or end (or both?) of your SPDIF cable. The idea behind using these attenuators on a digital cable is to reduce the strength of the signal. As a consequence the signal reflections are also reduced by twice the amount. Reflections are an inevitable occurrence that arise when a high speed signal meets an impedance blip on its passage from transmitter to receiver. These impedance issues could arise in the SPDIF transport, SPDIF connectors, SPDIF cables, or SPDIF receivers. These reflections are one of the many sources of added jitter in every digital system.Reducing the strength of these reflections should result in a reduction in the jitter generated by the transport to DAC connection. There are many situations where this should result in better sound, for instance, it may be a good way of reducing the sonic penalty usually incurred in using a BNC to RCA adaptor. So this could mean that by using these attenuators an RCA input on your DAC should now be about the same sonically as a BNC input.

To use these attenuators the reduced SPDIF signal has to be still capable of working in your system. This is certainly the case for the Hiface which has a high SPDIF signal to start with & may apply to other transports/receivers - real world results may be different although I have tested a BNC to RCA adaptor with & without one of these attenuators & the sound was noticeably smoother & without edge with the attenuator in-line.

Here is the cheapest place I have found on the internet for these attenuators at $12 each - there are other places that will charge you >$30 for eactly the same thing - I've even seen them for >€100 in RS which I thought must be a mistake! I believe this is cheap enough to allow experimenting with the range of values available.http://www.minicircuits.com/products/attenuators_coax_fixed.html

Scroll down to the bottom of the page - it's the BNC 75ohm variety that you want. They come in 3, 6, 10, 15, 20dB versions - the 3 & 20dB ones could probably be ruled out as too low & maybe too high an attenuation. What we want to aim for is enough attenuation to suppress signal reflections BUT not too much to reduce the signal voltage too low. You will know if you have done this as the DAC will not lock to the SPDIF signal.

Why buy expensive digital cables when using the high output Hiface & similar transports - these simple & cheap devices can be used to achieve a better solution. It's better solution because of the fact that a good digital cable if well made (expensive!) will have controlled impedance from end to end & will be a close match to the desired 75ohm. Outside of the cable at the DAC end or the transport end the cable cannot ameliorate any impedance anomalies that are encountered by the high speed signal so these will give rise to reflections travelling down the cable. The attenuators, attenuate these signals!

John Kennyjohn.f.kenny@gmail.comspdifattenuators10http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/hifacemods/50213491657746817552010-11-24T21:56:35.466Z2013-03-30T00:02:43.136Z2013-03-30T00:02:40.559ZIntroductory offer

For the first 5 orders of the I2S Hiface I will be including a free Sabre ES9022 DAC mounted on a separate board & fully working. So essentially this means that you will also get a fully working 24/192 USB & 24/192 DAC - all you need to supply is 3.3V. This DAC board outputs 2V RMS for connection directly to preamp or amplifier, no need to build an I/V stage. Indeed this will drive most headphones directly from the analogue outs. It is the same Sabre DAC chip used in the Nuforce uDac from which headphones are directly driven & praised for its sound. Again this only applies to the first 5 orders, only.

John Kennyjohn.f.kenny@gmail.comintroductoryoffer6http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/hifacemods/11261110342227183612012-04-06T13:37:53.477Z2013-03-30T00:01:03.704Z2013-03-30T00:01:02.295ZCharging from USB & auto-charging

These devices now auto-charge the batteries automatically i.e when the battery drops below its nominal 3.3V charge it is automatically topped up. This charging scheme can be manually turned on or off by a push button.

The charging will now operate form a 5V power supply. This leaves the option of powering the battery charger from a spare USB port separate to the one used . A suitable USB cable is required with USB A male to 2.1mm plug.

John Kennyjohn.f.kenny@gmail.comchargingfromusbauto-charging2http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/hifacemods/56436258947613675712013-02-08T02:59:12.210Z2013-02-08T02:59:12.217Z2013-02-08T02:59:12.185ZNew Products

New Devices:A range of new devices will soon be available which are USB input only devices. These are NOT based on the Hiface USB device. The new devices operate with the native USB drivers found in Mac OS 10.6+ & Linux with UAC2 compliant kernel.KS/Wasapi/WDM/ASIO Drivers supplied for MS OS XP to Win8 32-64bit.

The same low jitter clocks as used in the Hiface are also used here. These clocks are now situated as close to the output stage as possible i.e on the SPDIF output board or on the DAC board & are used to reclock the data signals close to the output. This provides the lowest jitter possible at the stage where it is most beneficial.

The devices are known by the name Ciúnas (pronounced Kew-nes) which is the Gaelic for silence. The background noise of these devices is even lower than the Hiface based units & as a result more details & more air around instruments/voices

After testing this & a number of independent people also doing this test, I can confirm that a USB adapter rather than a USB cable sounds best. It seems to match, if not better expensive USB cables although it hasn't been auditioned against very expensive ones yet.

So here's what you need - for my devices - a USB B male to USB A male adapter.

John Kennyjohn.f.kenny@gmail.comimprovingusb8http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/hifacemods/1299450075053056792012-10-26T14:29:25.007Z2012-10-26T14:29:25.010Z2012-10-26T14:29:25.003ZDrivers for Linux/Unix now available

John Kennyjohn.f.kenny@gmail.combatterychargingoptions1http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/hifacemods/23692758137002342382011-10-15T10:37:18.638Z2012-06-30T22:36:14.033Z2012-06-30T22:36:11.785ZNew 32/192 DAC available

New 32/192 DAC now available for those that prefer something other than the sound of the ESS Sabre chip family

John Kennyjohn.f.kenny@gmail.comnewdacavailable6http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/hifacemods/22098063778806659922012-06-02T11:17:02.090Z2012-06-02T12:27:04.311Z2012-06-02T12:27:03.458ZPricing Updates

My last email to subscribers contained a listing of all announcements since the site was set-up. This was a mistake & arose because I was recently made aware that no emails of announcements were being received. In correcting this the system automatically generated an email of all announcements. Apologies if this has caused anybody any inconvenience.

In that email there was a an old announcement entitled MK2 to MK3 upgrade which has been superceeded & expanded as follows:

Anybody who has already purchased a USB-SPDIF or DAC device from me qualifies for the following discounts on a second purchase:

€50 discount on USB-SPDIF devices

€75 discount on JKDAC32

So for previous purchasers the following pricing (including shipping) applies:

There are further discounts that apply to active members of Jplay & Stereo.net.au forums - a free shipping discount (-€20)

Furthermore, customers of mine can avail of a 10% discount on the purchase of Jplay (€89 instead of €99) just let me know if you want to purchase it & I will send them an email verifying you!

John Kennyjohn.f.kenny@gmail.compricingupdates2http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/hifacemods/83512867469342965092012-06-01T10:40:17.476Z2012-06-01T10:40:17.484Z2012-06-01T10:40:17.464Z20% discount on Sabre based JKDAC

The price of the JKDAC has been reduced by 20% to €400 while stocks last.

John Kennyjohn.f.kenny@gmail.com20discountonsabrebasedjkdac1http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/hifacemods/81785249412320742002011-11-13T19:08:38.819Z2012-05-11T16:20:16.903Z2012-03-25T12:01:15.379ZImprove the Sound of Hiface Devices

A customer of mine made this discovery recently - you can use the Young DAC driver with my Hiface devices, MK3, JKDAC & JKDAC32. I prefer the sound of the Young driver to the Hiface driver - richer, more laid back, more analogue like but without losing any detail.

John Kennyjohn.f.kenny@gmail.comimprovethesoundofmyhifacedevices11http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/hifacemods/86908277032151803902011-09-09T13:56:38.908Z2012-03-18T23:41:56.191Z2011-09-18T20:37:17.484ZUpgrading MK2 to MK3

There is no direct hardware upgrade between these versions as they are based on different hardware but any owners of a MK2 can upgrade to a MK3 & get a €100 discount. Just purchase through paypal from my purchase page & leave a note that you are an owner of a MK2. I will check my records & refund you €100. Any previous purchasers of MK2 that have also bought a MK3 please contact me for this €100 refund.

John Kennyjohn.f.kenny@gmail.comupgradingmk2tomk33http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/hifacemods/54128331686817564542011-04-30T23:23:58.036Z2012-03-18T23:41:56.189Z2011-05-16T18:44:13.132ZUpgrading MK1 to MK2

I have just been made aware of a product that will provide a relatively clean (average <1mV noise) 5V external supply on the USB cable. It is a linear 5V/1A external PS that links into a USB cable ( http://www.aqvox.de/usb-power_en.html). On the purchase page (http://www.aqvox.de/bestellung.html) they even state that it is suitable for the Hiface - maybe been looking in on the modifications mentioned here. Cost is €89 + shipping.

An owner of a MK1 (Tom Bubulya, Ph.D.)just emailed this to me about the AQVX supply above (reprinted with his permission):

Man, another good suggestion!!! The improvement using the external power supply is not subtle. The finer details are better defined but the most marked changes are with imaging (even more precise), soundstaging (very layered and deep) and lower octave authority. One other thing that I noticed when listening through my HD800's, the image location has shifted so that the performers are more at eye level then forehead level. It is hard to believe the improvement considering how good the MK1 performed in these areas. Bypassing the 5V usb to the hiface is, in my opinion, necessary and not just a tweak.

An even cheaper ($30) & possibly cleaner option (40uV noise) is to be found here but it is a kit I think & may require some soldering?

John Kennyjohn.f.kenny@gmail.comupgradingmk1tomk214http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/hifacemods/87140919102567836262010-09-25T02:53:54.674Z2012-03-18T23:41:56.187Z2010-10-08T17:25:20.102ZUpcoming review

A "follow on" article to the stock Hiface review is due to appear on November 1st in Enjoythemusic comparing it to a modified Hiface (MK1), M2tech Evo, Halide Bridge. Oscilloscope shots are included of the change in the SPDIF waveform when using the MK1Face & when using the attenuators. Keep an eye out for it here

As I recommend these RF attenuators with the SPDIF output Hiface & I am getting a lot of questions about these devices, I've re-written & re-posted my short write-up about these attenuators & how they work. It gives you all the information about how they work & where to purchase them. Essentially they are small adapters that will attach at either end of your SPDIF cable & will improve the sound. Read more about them here .

John Kennyjohn.f.kenny@gmail.comrfattenuatorsjitterreducers3http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/hifacemods/52428561100692158822011-09-09T14:01:43.416Z2012-03-18T23:41:56.183Z2011-09-09T14:03:52.881ZRF attenuator

The MK3 is now being bundled with a 20dB RF attenuator (for €15) as it has been found that this is the best sounding configuration!

The attenuator improves both BNC & RCA SPDIF cables! If this proves not to be your experience it can be returned for a refund

The unboxed modified Hiface shows the Power Supply connectors at the side. These have since been replaced by leads with PS connectors on their ends. These can be connected to an external 3.3V DC supplly. I use two 3.3V LiFePO4 batteries (& can supply these) for the best low noise supply I know (see the battery mini-review http://sites.google.com/site/hifacemods/home/announcements/batteryreview.

This sounds exactly the same as the boxed version with exactly the same modifications applied. The only difference is in the aesthetics & operational aspects. There are no switches in this configuration so turning on/off requires connection/disconnection of the power supply. Leaving the unit turned on all night when using batteries as the power supply, will probably drain one of the batteries. Draining the batteries below 2.5V is not recommended & can shorten the lifetime of the batteries (15 years estimated when used normally). Recharging the batteries requires them to be disconnected from Hiface & connected to a charger.

The hole in the top of the casing is an I2S modification that was experimental & is not now provided.

John Kennyjohn.f.kenny@gmail.comreviewofunboxedhiface11http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/hifacemods/18678053825033339252010-10-29T17:26:31.730Z2012-03-18T23:41:56.179Z2010-10-29T17:36:12.061ZReview in Enjoythemusic

It compares the M2tech Evo & the Halide Bridge to the JKHiface. Remember this is the MK1 version that is being reviewed so the battery comments don't apply & are somewhat incorrect for the MK1 anyway!

John Kennyjohn.f.kenny@gmail.comreviewinenjoythemusic3http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/hifacemods/51121153646185878772010-12-06T20:44:37.568Z2012-03-18T23:41:56.177Z2010-12-11T23:26:30.556ZPower Supply for MK2

So many people are using the wrong external power supply that I need to draw attention to the following.

WARNING: You can't use any old power supply with this Hiface - it MUST be DC output (this will be written on the PS); it MUST have a positive (+) centre pin in the 2.1mm plug; it MUST be between 9V & 12V output & > 500mA current. Please don't try out different power supplies unless they meet these criteria as using a wrong PS is liable to kill the Hiface. Please be very careful here & double check everything!!

IMPROVEMENTS:

Improvements in the external power supply will translate to improvements in sound. How much improvement depends on your existing PS quality & the quality of the new PS. A test to ascertain what to expect & set the bar would be to use a 12V battery supply. Make sure the centre pin polarity of the 2.1mm plug is POSITIVE. See here for more information

Use some RF attenuators - see here for more information. There is no prescribed best value(s) for these - it's somewhat dependent on DAC - suggested values to purchase ($12 each) are 6dB & 15dB. You will be pleasantly surprised by the sonic improvement these little devices make - it's all about reducing jitter!

A suitable UK 9V DC supply is £14 here but others may well be available locally in your area.

A suitable US 9V DC supply is $10 here but again others may well be available locally in your area.

What you want is 9V to 12V DC supply of 500mA or greater output with a 2.1mm plug with positive centre contact.

You could also run this off a 12V battery using an adapter plug like this or this, again respecting centre pin is positive polarity.

Please be careful with choosing this supply as the wrong polarity will kill the Hiface!

Due to customer requests, I have now stocked these RF Attenuators in 20dB version. I have found that this value works in my system & makes a difference to the sound.

If you do not like the difference you can return it for a refund. Price is €30 when included with an existing order. €30 + shipping if ordered separately. These are only available to existing customers.

A review of the MK2 Hiface has just been published in StereoMojo. An extract from the conclusion "The Mk1 modded HiFace didn't just give good performance for PC based sound - it gave good performance, period. I was lucky enough for John to also loan me a Mk1 again with the Mk2 so I could directly compare one to the other. Well, when I tried the Mk1, I remembered quite well the original sound - clear highs, tight lows and a really good clarity. I listened like that for a few days. Then I swapped in the Mk2. Now I could see why John was excited about the new mods: yes, there is a definite improvement with the Mk2. So what changed? Well, the space and resolution around individual instruments and singers was improved, which led to a much better appreciation of the soundstage. Better depth, width and height were readily apparent. I could detect no downsides to this: there was no trace of any kind of glare or harshness, listening fatigue never set it."

A new version of the hiface has been released which incorporates in the box a battery charger & a 5V supply. This means no need for sourcing a battery charger. Here's what a reviewer had to say about the MK2 version

"there is a
definite improvement with the Mk2. So what changed? Well, the space and
resolution around individual instruments and singers was improved, which led to
a much better appreciation of the soundstage. Better depth, width and height
were readily apparent. I could detect no downsides to this: there was no trace
of any kind of glare or harshness, listening fatigue never set it. In fact this
unit was responsible for more than a few late nights chez Morrin. A curious
thing: I found myself not needing to turn up the volume to hear small details
in the recordings. These improvements, coupled with the neat box it’s now
housed in, and the built in charger, all make this a significant step up from the
Mk1."

With the MK2 there is no power coming from the USB connection so the PS of the PC is of little concern. The single battery is powering the clocks & will last for days before needing a recharge - it is topped up when the unit is switched off. The new internal 3.3V regulator is ultra low noise & it supplies the Xilinx output stages!

Some consideration should be given to the external 9V to 12V power supply. Remember, this is the feed for the 5V & 3.3V regulators in the MK2 modified Hiface box so the cleanest possible power is advisable. Yes the switched mode power supplies that come with most modern appliances WILL PROBABLY DO - you know the light ones. But it is better to use a better quality PS i.e. probably one with a transformer in it (i.e heavier).

For best sound with my DACs or SPDIF transports using a PC & Windows 7, I highly recommend Jplay audio playback software. This is the best sounding audio player I have heard on a PC - it makes Foobar sound thin by comparison.

Confirmed customers (not people who have bought a device of mine 2nd hand) can transfer €89 by PayPal to sales@jplay.eu.